The Last 5 Days

Well, where do I start? I know its been a long time since I posted, but not THAT much has happened. It was a combination of laziness and being busy. I will do a short synopsis of what went on the last few days.

Wednesday: Took the second part of the Spanish placement exam for my exchange program. It was an oral exam, in which the teacher asked questions and you were required to answer. I think that because the same teacher has seen me throughout the week she had a sense of my level, but I guess this formality was still helpful. After the exam I went to a very cool restaurant for lunch. It was called Modern and Classic Cafe, and was a bookstore and restaurant build in together. The food was great and the atmosphere was even better. As we finished our meal the rush for lunch started and the place got busy and the piano player showed up. I will definitely try and go back there again. After lunch I went home for a well needed nap. A few hours later it was time to go and get a criminal clearance with the police for my student visa. This process was very easy, the hardest part was getting to the police office.
After dinner I went out with Nell, Nick, and Jane to a very cool trendy bar called Milion. The building was an old mansion and was renovated to house a very swank bar for locals and wine and dine in style. After the bar we landed in Volta, the local famous ice cream joint, and tried the divine ice cream. Dulce de Leche con Brownie was amazing. Enough Said.

Thursday: I was able to sleep in late and enjoy the morning in bed. Around lunch time I arose from my warm slumber and ventured outside for lunch. I had a great salad, the first one since I have been here, and treated myself to a croissant with dulce de leche for dessert. I adventured into Palermo for the first time and walked around some shopping areas and around the zoo and the park. I had some free time to spare before I needed to be at school at 5.30pm. I got to school a little later that afternoon for registration. The line was really long, so instead of waiting, Alex, Kate, and I went for some coffee and tea to warm us up. We returned, registered for the classes we needed, and departed home for dinner. After dinner I went out with Alex and Kate to Milion, since they had not been there the night before. I had another nice night there and enjoyed myself. On the way back I persuaded Kate to stop with me at Volta for another amazing ice cream experience.

Friday: The last day of orientation was an optional field trip to an estancia (more or less a ranch) outside of Buenos Aires. An hour bus ride got us to Rodizio Campo, a giant ranch with lots of animals, field, bikes, etc. We were treated with a buffet of empanadas, cheese, and crackers and I was content. After it was all done, they announced that lunch would be served in 30 minutes. I was dumbfounded. I thought that was lunch! So for the 30 minutes before lunch I tried to work up a hunger while I rode a bike around the fields. I rode Circe 8's around a group of ducks and watched them squirm out of the way, and was very amused. Lunch was a non-stop meat-fest. A traditional Asado, meat was brought out on skewers and served to eat table. Many different types of meats came out, each one better than the last. Im not sure if I have ever eaten more meat in one sitting in my life. It was grand. After we digested a little, we formed a futball game on one of the fields. I played for a while, had 2 assists, and then volunteered for goalie service. It was fun, and took up the majority of the afternoon. That night, since a lot of people were tired, I ventured out with a new group to a restaurant for a drink. This new crowd was not my cup of tea, so I left before they moved onto their next destination. A quiet night was a good thing, since I needed to catch up on some sleep.

Saturday: I woke up late and then relaxed for the majority of the day.....after talking to Lauren for a while on Skype and after a long calming shower I walked and wandered into the Recoleta Cemetery for a little while. I was there for a long time, and took some awesome photos. I was really interested in the way the sun was setting and the shadows it created among the tombs. Afterwards, I walked around the fair and along the Law School and the Buenos Aires Flower. It was beautiful outside and the walk was very pleasant. I met up with Nell and a few friends of hers from GW. We ended up going to see The Simpsons Movie in Spanish. It was good practice, and although I did get the majority of the jokes, it wasn't that funny. I got home, got dressed, and met up with Alex, Kate, and Elise at Bar Gran Danzon, a very nice wine bar/restaurant. We had a great meal and I stopped at ice cream on the way home. We were all a little tired, so when we left dinner at 1.30am, we called it a night.

Sunday: I woke up early to go on the BiciTour of Buenos Aires with our program. The bike tour was fun, although it was really cold and I wore shorts. After the tour, I went to Martin's house (an Argentine orientation leader) with a few other people to hang out and order pizza and empanadas. We had a really late lunch and I ate soo much. It was great practice for Spanish and I had a great time. I left around 6 and headed home. Later in the night I met up with Kate at a cafe a few doors down from me with internet access so she could surf the web. We sat and talked for a while, and then headed out to a bar to make an appearance at someone's brithday party. It was a nice relaxing day, and a great weekend.